Friday, April 25, 2014

In Theros, certain inhabitants are living enchantments, creations of the gods. When we see these creatures, where shadows would normally be, we see through to the plane of Nyx, which is the home of the gods. Unfortunately for me when I painted it early on in the set, I didn't quite understand the effect. As you can see below in the oil painting, I thought all shadows in each illustration would show the effect. Pressed for time, and not especially adept at painting star fields in oils, I chose to continue the painting in Photoshop.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

A new one for new "Journey to Nyx" set for Magic: The Gathering. The inspiration for this piece came from the working title in the art description, "Clock Architect". I was asked to paint a human scholar standing proudly beside an antikythera mechanism, an ancient analog computer used to predict the positions and phases of planets, moons, stars. The man was to be within a "mystical structure of stone tablets and glowing air-writings " It was to have a "mysteries of time" mood. The word "architect", however, immediately implanted in my mind the idea that the mechanism was massive, with huge turning gears and chains, powered by waterwheels. Less mystical, more mechanical. Not sure that my interpretation would fly, I did two sketches. One with a more accurately sized antikythera mechanism and a more wizard like human and another other with my giant machine idea. I was pleased they went with the latter.